example, the smallness of the head and bill is very remarkable; the sinuosity of
the cutting margin of the upper mandible is rather more developed in the male
than in the female; the second quill feather is slightly longer than the fifth, the
third is equal to the fourth, or even exceeds it, and the first is intermediate in
length between the seventh and eighth; the third and fourth are conspicuously
longer than the rest;—a structure of wing which adapts this bird for more rapid
flight than either the Buteo borealis or A stur palumbarius.—Sw.
DESCRIPTION
Of a male, shot, on the 17th of June, at the nest, which contained three eggs. Plains of the Saskatchewan.
C olour of the dorsal aspect between clove and blackish browns, the margins of the feathers
being paler. The head and posterior part of the back are darker, while on the rest of the
upper plumage the~borders of the feathers fade gradually into soiled yellowish-brdwn. The
quill feathers and longest scapularies have a shining blackish-brown colour; there are some
obscure bars on the former, produced by a slight deepening of the colour, and at the
base of the inner webs of the first and second quill feathers, these bars are' slightly mottled
with white. The secondaries and a few of the adjoining primaries are very narrowly tipped
with brownish white. The tail is deep clove-brown, darkening towards its end into blackish-
brown, and having a very narrow soiled tip. On a close inspection, it is seen to be crossed
by about seven bars of a deeper shade, the terminal one an inch broad, the others much
narrower. Under surface. The cheeks are pure clove-brown ; the throat is white; the sides
of the neck, its fore part next the breast, and the upper part of the latter, are dull broccoli-
brown, with a slight intermixture of yellowish-brown. The belly and thighs are pale yellowish-
brown, indistinctly barred with white. The vent feathers and under tail coverts are soiled
white. The flanks are yellowish-brown, with some patches of clove-brown. The linings of
the wings are brownish-white, with a few dispersed specks of yellowish-brown; and the greater
interior coverts are barred with dark-brown. The under surfaces of the quill feathers are
blackish-grey, deepening at their tips into blackish-brown, and barred towards the base of
their inner webs with yellowish-grey. The tail beneath is very pale ash-grey, crossed by
seven bars of clove-brown. Bill bluish-black. Cere and legs yellowish. Claws black.
F orm, & c.—Head round, with a very convex crown. Bill broad at the bas,e, flatly convex
above, and much compressed towards the tip, which forms a rather slender acute hook. The
curve of the ridge of the bill is elliptical. The cutting margin of the upper mandible is sinu-
ated, and the lobe is rendered more distinct by a shallow and wide furrow on the side of the
bill immediately anterior to it. The lower mandible is rounded, or very obliquely truncated,
at the end. The nostrils are roundish, approaching to pear-shaped, with the narrow corner
turned forwards and upwards. The cere covers a large portion of the bill, and is quite naked
and exposed on its ridge, the feathers of the forehead lying smoothly back and receding from
it: on the sides it is partially hidden by the black hairs which spring from the lores. Wings.
The third quill feather is the longest, the fourth is nearly a quarter of an inch, and the second
an inch and a quarter shorter; the fifth is just perceptibly shorter than the second; the sixth
to the tenth diminish an inch each in succession ; and the first just exceeds the eighth. The
irfner webs of the first three are strongly sinuated, and the outer webs of the second, third,
and fourth, more obliquely sinuated. The tail is very square, the two centre feathers being
rather the shortest. The outer thigh feathers reach half way down the tarsus. The tarsi are
short and strong, covered anteriorly with feathers for about an inch below the joint, naked
their whole length posteriorly. They are protected before by about eleven large transverse
shield-shaped scales, and there are about as many equally large behind, their sides being
reticulated with small scales. The toes are short, the middle and outer one connected by a
short membrane. The outer toe is a little longer than the inner one, the middle one is fully
a quarter of an inch longer than the outer one, and the hind one is the shortest. 1 here are
four shield-shaped scales .on the hind toe, four or five on the inner one, five or six on the
outer one, and about twelve on the middle one; but there are some slight variations in different
specimens.
D im en sio n s
Length from the tip of the bill to the end of
. . the tail <•. * • •
1 „ ’ of the tail • • •
„ of the longest quill feather .
,, of the bill from the angle of the
mouth . . ■ •......•
„ from the anterior edge of the orbit
to the tip of the bill . . .
O fa male.
Inches. Lines. Length of the bill, measured along its ridge
In1ches. Li4ne
22 ,, of the cere on the ridge . . 0 6
8 6 C- « " of the tarsus . • • • 2 6
15 0 „ of the middle toe * * 1 9
„ of its daw . . . » 0 9
I 6 • ,, of the hind toe . . . 0 9
1 6
„ of its claw . . • • 0 11
DESCRIPTION
Of & female, killed at the nest, near Carlton, May 22, 1827-
C olour of the dorsal aspect almost precisely the same as that of the male; but the feathers
are more downy, and the blackish bars on the tail are more distinct. The throat is
sparingly streaked with brown ; the breast is darker than that of the male; the belly has less
of the bright yellowish-brown, and is studded with short bars of blackish-brown : the flanks
are also strongly barred with the latter colour, and the yellowish-brown of the thigh feathers
is darker than in the male. The cere and legs havé a bluish livid colour. The tarsi are
thicker than in the male. The third and fourth quill feathers are of equal length, the relative
proportions of the others being the same.as in the male.
the tail . . • » * . •
• „ of the tail . .
„ of the longest quill feather
D im en sio n s ’
Of the female.
Inches. Lines. Inches. Lim
f Length of the tarsus . . . 3 0
2 6 0 . „ of the middle toe . 1 11
. 10 0 ,, of its claw . • . . 0 9
16 6
H